Holy Hot Mess! 8 Bad Website Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

As with everything else in life, there’s a right way to create a website and there’s a wrong way to do it. The wrong way will prevent your customers from finding you.

You’ll also face possible penalties from Google for making certain mistakes. But there are steps you can take to avoid being in the ranks of the worst websites out there.

Bad web design is easy to avoid when you know what you’re doing. Keep reading to learn the eight bad website design mistakes and ways to easily avoid them.

1. One Sign of Bad Website Design is Using a Free Site Builder

Imagine walking past a storefront window that sells clothing and everything is ratty and torn. It wouldn’t take a genius to realize that any store that puts their worst merchandise in the storefront wouldn’t do very well.

You choosing to use a free web builder is just like placing your worst merchandise in the storefront window. Your website is the first impression of your business.

The other problem is that free websites are also usually slow to load. You also don’t get to use a proper domain name.

Your site should be your showcase. Make use of your marketing dollars by having a paid site be the first thing anyone sees.

2. The Worst Websites are Cluttered

Too much information, graphics, and colors and people get confused. The worst websites contain too much of everything.

Doing so will end up driving people away. The first impression someone wants of your website is information that’s easily found in an organized way.

They want to see appealing colors and graphics. You don’t have to share everything on your site. You do need to share pertinent information in a way that’s visually appealing and easy to navigate.

3. Poorly Designed Websites are Difficult to Read

Content is king and it always will be. A poorly designed website means it’s difficult to read the information that’s being shared.

Perhaps the fonts are too small or just difficult to read. Maybe there’s so much content that it’s tough to figure out where to find the right information.

Customers are looking at your website to find the content they find appealing. Write in a way that has universal appeal and so everyone can understand what your business is about.

And make sure your website is designed for SEO. SEO is what will help drive customers to your site and boost your rankings on search engines.

4. Bad Website Designs are Slow to Load

You have less than three minutes to make a good impression on your website. A website that’s poorly designed means it’s usually slow to load.

Customers are impatient. They also suspect with a slower website that something is wrong with it. And trust on the internet is everything.

Make sure your website is free from errors that can slow down your website. And make sure your videos and graphics don’t overload your site and slow it down.

Try performing an audit at least once a year to stay on top of errors that slow down your website.

5. Bad Websites Don’t Let Customers Contact Them

There’s nothing more frustrating to a customer than trying to locate the contact information on a website and not finding it anywhere. Bad websites hide their contact information and it does them a great disservice.

Even if you aren’t selling a product, a customer still might have a question. Perhaps a reporter is looking to write an article about your company.

But if no one can figure out how to reach you, that makes it difficult. Imagine owning a restaurant but not sharing your restaurant’s location on your website.

That’s a lot of business that ends up being lost. Bad websites don’t make their contact information readily available. Make sure yours is easy to find.

6. The Worst Websites Contain Too Much Advertising

While it’s fine to advertise other businesses or even your own on your website, do it too much and you’ve lost your customer’s interest. Too much advertising makes your site cluttered.

And people don’t want to be sold to. People want to make connections with other people, not their business.

Your goal is to build up your brand, which includes building up loyalty to your company. Trust and loyalty happens when people get to know you rather than what you’re selling.

Focus more on providing great content and less on selling and you’ll find your sales will actually increase.

7. Bad Websites Don’t Look at Analytics

You can’t tell how well your website is doing if you don’t look at the analytics. The analytics will tell you how many people are visiting your site.

And analytics tell you how long they’re staying on your site and what pages they’re looking at. Often, the information the analytics tell you can help you make minor but significant changes to your website to increase traffic.

If you aren’t looking at your analytics, you’re leaving a lot of business on the table. Learn how to read and use the analytics. Click here to learn more.

8. One Sign of Bad Website Design is Lack of Cybersecurity

By 2022, six billion people will have been the victim of a cybersecurity attack. And even if your business is just a blog, you’re at risk.

Every single website is at risk of being attacked and if you’re not taking any measures to prevent it from happening, you’re putting your customers at risk.

A bad website doesn’t put proper cybersecurity protocols in place. If you’re selling items on your website, your first goal should be to create a website that helps ensure the safety of every customer who ventures on to your website.

Learn More

There’s a lot to learn about bad website design. The more you know how to design and update a great looking website, the more traffic you’ll drive to your website.